Daily Dependence

 Give us today our daily bread. Matthew 6:11

Daily dependence on the Lord is what I have been learning these days. When I first got saved, the Lord taught me how to live by faith, depending upon Him, especially on my financial matter when I had no source of income of my own except the ones I received from my father. Step by step, the Lord led me to trust Him in all things. In fact, I have been graced by the Lord to follow Him all this while as He also provided all my needs. It was so thrilling yet encouraging to learn the faithfulness of the Lord. He has been so faithful all the time. I especially felt his faithfulness during trying times. 

Now, though the Lord has arranged a way for me to be taken care of financially, I still have to depend on Him. For, His arrangement is just the means, He is still the source. The means exist because of the source. The means without the source has no meaning, it nullifies its existence. Though the means have been arranged to meet my family's needs, still, my dependence is on Him, the source, and not on the means.

This experience is also so much in line with the Life-studies pursuit these days on the book of Genesis on the line of life signified by the tree of life versus the line of death signified by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Day by day, I learn to exercise to partake of the tree of life and learn to live by the spirit. Even on physical and material things, I look to Him and depend on Him. I cease to depend on what He has already provided me with. I still depend on Him, the Source, for all things even if I already have them. This is what I understood of the prayer, "Lord, give us today our daily bread." A life of depending upon God all the time.

I treasure this lesson so much. Even after twenty-five years of living and walking with the Lord, my dependence on Him becomes more eminent and desperate. For I have learned the lesson that I am nothing without Him. My life, my work, and my everything depends on Him. There is nothing I can claim of my own, literally nothing. All that I have are from Him. My life, my family, my children, and all that I have, spiritual or physical, all are from Him. I have because He gives. 

Though I have enough deposits in the bank, all from the Lord's blessing financially, I do not depend on them too. I would learn to live by His monthly provision of finance and learn to manage within it. The expenses for my family have grown much. So I am learning to save wherever I can. So I would rather try to repair all my broken gadgets than throw them and buy new ones. As much as possible, I try my best to repair at a low cost and avoid shelling out a huge amount for purchasing new gadgets. Recently I have had to face this decision with a fridge, cooler, and hairdryer. They have been good enough to throw them as junk yet I still somehow tried to repair them and make them work. Though there was a price to pay for running around for the repair and a couple of days and weeks to wait for the repair to be done, I would rather pay the price of my labor and wait than pay the price of money, an easy way to get things done just by buying new ones.

In all these little things, I got the grace to experience the Lord in depending on Him. This is what I have been learning these days. Depend on the Lord, yes even a  daily dependence. Given a choice, I would always choose to depend on the Lord even if I could do without it. And I am glad I could not do without the Lord.  So I depend on Him daily.

Lord, give me today my daily bread!